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Paredes de Nava (Municipality, Castilla y León, Spain)

Presentation of Paredes de Nava
Symbols of Paredes de Nava

See also:

Presentation of Paredes de Nava

The municipality of Paredes de Nava (2,096 inhabitants in 2010; 12,898 ha; municipal website) is located in the south of Palencia Province, 10 km from Palencia.

Paredes de Nava might have been Intercatia, a town built the pre-Roman Vaccaei tribe, of which several stone and bronze artefacts have been found, including an hospitality pact set up between two inhabitants of Intercatia and Pallantia (Palencia). Paredes (once Parietes) is a Basque word meaning "a plain", alluding to remains of old buildings, maybe belonging to the Vaccaei town. Several villages existed on the municipal territory; some of them, such as Carejas, with a chapel build on the remains of an old church, are still there.
After King Alfonso VII had granted them a charter, sometime between 1128 and 1134, the villagers deserted most hamlets and grouped into a single population nucleus. The town was protected by walls, increased several times because of the demographic growth; the eventual wall was oval, with six gates, as can still be seen on the map of the town. Paredes was divided into eight boroughs, La Fuente, Renedo, San Miguel, San Juan, Ardagón, Mediano, Calleluenga and Gallegos (settled by Galicians, gallegos), and an independent Jewish ward (juderia). Paredes was besieged in 1289 by Regent María de Molina; María Díaz, the daughter of the Lord of Biscay resisted and was eventually granted the ownership of the town, which was incorporated to the Kingdom of Castile in 1326.
In the 15th century, Paredes was ruled by the Manrique de Lara; Rodrigo Manrique was erected the first Count of Paredes. The Manrique's palace, incorporated in the town wall, was eventually ruined and sold in the 18th century, all its stones being used to build the Castile Canal. Achieved in 1791, the canal allowed grains produced in Paredes to be shipped to Cantabria, contributing to the development of the town.

Several noted artists were born in Paredes de Nava.
Jorge Manrique (c. 1440-1479), the fourth son of Count Rodrigo, was Lord of Belmontejo, Commander of Montizón and Captain of Castile. He took part in different affairs of the court of Castile, supporting Infant Alfonso, the son of John II of Castile and brother of Henry IV and Isabel. During the battles he fought, he always wore on his chest a bend charged with his motto "Ni mineto ni me arripiento" (I don't lie neither do I regret); after his father's death in 1476 during the siege of Uclés, he wrote his famous "Stanzas about the death of his father" (Coplas a la muerte de su padre). Manrique died at the end of the Castilian Civil War after having been injured during the siege of the castle of Garci-Muñoz. The fame of the coplas, highly estimated by Lope de Vega and Longfellow, made him known as "the son of Master Rodrigo Manrique", concealing his own personality.
Pedro Berruguete (c. 1450- c. 1504) represents the transition between the Flemish and Renaissance painting styles in Spain. While keeping a workshop in his birth village, Berruguete worked in 1477 in Italy at the court of Federico de Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, where he was known as Pietro Spagnolo (Peter the Spanish). In 1482-1483, following the Duke's death, Berruguete came back to Spain and worked mostly in Castile; his masterwork, the altarpiece of the Ávila Cathedral was achieved by Juan de Borgoña. His son, Alonso Berruguete (1486/1489-1561), was a famous sculptor trained in Italy, one of the three "eagles of the Spanish Renaissance", together with Diego de Siloé and Bartolomó Ordoñez. Back to Spain in 1517, Berruguete worked for Charles V in Saragossa and set up in 1523 his workshop in Valladolid, where he realized his masterworks, the altarpieces of the Mejorada de Olmedo and of San Benito el Real, subsequently working in Toledo and Salamanca, too.
Felipe Berrojo (c. 1628-1694) introduced the architectural Baroque style in Castile. He designed several churches and monasteries in Valladolid, Medina de Rioseco, Segovia, Villada and Carrión de los Condes.
Gregoria Matorras del Ser (1728-1813) has remained famous as the mother of General Jose de San Martín, the Liberator of Argentina. She died the year San Martín won in San Lorenzo the first battle that would led to the independence of Argentina.

Ivan Sache, 3 April 2011

Symbols of Paredes de Nava

The flag and arms of Paredes de Nava are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 27 July 1998 by the Palencia Provincial Government, signed on 28 July 1998 by the President of the Government, and published on 10 August 1998 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 151 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Quadrangular flag, with proportions 1:1, crimson. In the middle of the flag is placed the municipal coat of arms in full colors.
Coat of arms: Shield in Spanish shape. Or two cauldrons sable with snaky handles, a bordure compony castles and lions, that is Castile and León. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.

Ivan Sache, 3 April 2011